Taxi software
Taxi app
Operators asking for "a taxi app" usually mean one of three products — and picking the wrong one is the most expensive mistake in this category.
What is a taxi app?
A taxi app is a mobile application used to run or book taxi journeys. For an operator the phrase covers three distinct products: the driver app that receives and completes jobs, the passenger app that customers book and track through, and a white-label app published under the fleet's own brand. They differ in who installs them, who pays for them, and how much work it takes to get anyone to use them.
This page also answers: taxi app for my business, own taxi app.
Key takeaways
- A taxi app is a mobile application used to run or book taxi journeys.
- The driver app is non-optional: it is how work reaches the car, and its quality decides whether drivers accept the system at all.
- The build is the cheap part.
- A large share of taxi customers will not install an app for a journey they take occasionally, and every install prompt you put in front of them is a chance to lose the booking.
Taxi app — the checkable numbers
- Apps an operator can run
- 3 (driver, passenger, own-brand)
- Driver apps shipped
- 2 native (iOS + Android)
- Passenger booking without an install
- Web booking + tracking link
- Included in plan price
- Driver and passenger apps
- Store presence required for own-brand
- Apple and Google developer accounts
- Interface languages
- 45
- Entry price
- £49 / month (Starter)
the three products the phrase covers
separate native codebases, both published
the passenger can book and track without downloading anything
not charged as separate line items on £49 / £149 / £349 plans
a white-label app is published under the operator's own store identity
count of locales in i18n/routing.ts
list price, GBP, from data/pricing-plans.ts
Prices are list prices in GBP and exclude VAT. Counts are of records published on this site and can be checked against the pages they link to.
The three apps, and who each one is for
The driver app is non-optional: it is how work reaches the car, and its quality decides whether drivers accept the system at all. The passenger app is optional and its value depends entirely on repeat custom — an airport-transfer fleet whose customers book twice a year will struggle to get installs, while a town fleet with regular commuters can build real habit.
The own-brand app is a marketing decision dressed as a technical one. It puts your name on a phone home screen, which is genuinely valuable, and it also puts you into two app-store review processes with two developer accounts to maintain.
Why most fleets should not build their own app from scratch
The build is the cheap part. What follows is the expensive part: two platforms to keep working through annual OS releases, store policy changes that arrive without warning, crash reports at 2am, and a maintenance bill that continues whether or not the app is delivering bookings.
The honest comparison is not build-versus-buy on day one. It is the five-year cost of keeping two native apps healthy against a platform where that maintenance is somebody else's job — and a fleet's actual differentiator is its drivers and its coverage, not its app.
The passenger who will never install anything
A large share of taxi customers will not install an app for a journey they take occasionally, and every install prompt you put in front of them is a chance to lose the booking. Designing around this rather than fighting it is what separates fleets who convert from fleets who have an app nobody has.
That means the web booking flow and the tracking link have to be first-class, not a fallback: book on the site in under a minute, get a link that shows the car approaching, no account required. The app then earns its installs from the customers who book often enough to want it.
How to choose a taxi app
1. Decide which of the three apps you actually mean
Driver, passenger and own-brand apps have different costs, different users and different failure modes. Quotes that do not say which are not comparable.
2. Estimate installs honestly before committing to a passenger app
Occasional customers do not install apps. If your booking frequency is low, spend the effort on the web booking flow instead.
3. Ask who owns the store listings for an own-brand app
Published under the supplier's account, your app is not portable. Under your own developer accounts, it is.
4. Test the driver app on an old, cheap Android handset
This is what a meaningful share of your drivers will be using, and it is where a heavy app falls over.
5. Check the passenger can book without installing anything
Every forced install is a lost booking from the customers who were only ever going to use you once.
The parts of TaxiCloud this uses
- Driver app
Native Android, FCM push, offline-tolerant, ratings + chat built in.
- Passenger app
iOS-first booking app, App Store rating 4.6 average, white-label included.
- Booking widget
One line of JavaScript. Embed on your site. Themed to match your brand.
Taxi app — frequently asked questions
What does 'taxi app' mean for an operator?
Three different products: the driver app that receives and completes jobs, the passenger app customers book and track through, and a white-label app published under your own brand. They differ in who installs them and what they cost to run, so it is worth being specific about which one you are pricing.
Should we build our own taxi app?
Rarely. The build is the cheap part; keeping two native apps working through annual OS releases and store policy changes is the ongoing cost, and it continues whether or not the app produces bookings. Most fleets' real differentiator is coverage and drivers, not software.
Do passengers have to download an app to book?
No — booking and tracking work on the web, so a customer can book in a browser and follow the car through a tracking link without installing anything. The passenger app is for the customers who book often enough to want it on their home screen.
Is the driver app charged separately?
No. Both native driver apps are included in the plan price of £49, £149 or £349 per month; what scales is the per-driver charge above your plan's included cap, at £12, £8 or £5 per driver per month.
Can we have an app under our own name?
Yes — a white-label app can be published under your own brand and your own Apple and Google developer accounts, which is also what keeps the listing portable if you ever change supplier.
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